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Why do companies move away from successful advertising campaigns?
Man, I hate the stupid Geico gecko. He talks with a stupid accent and gives advice to other geckos about car insurance. Hey, guess what! Geckos can’t drive!
It’s not so much that the new Geico campaign is bad, but more that their previous campaign was really good. Why move away from it?
The old campaign, featuring someone delivering really bad news but capping it by exclaiming that he/she saved money by switching to Geico, was funny and easily memorable. The tagline “but I saved money by switching to Geico!” was entering the realm of standard pop culture vernacular. People were saying it left and right, raising Geico awareness (heck, I switched to Geico) and getting people to the web site for a free insurance quote.
Not only that, the commercials were surely cheap to make, as far as production. No special effects, no fancy scenes — just some people in a common, everyday setting, like a doctor’s office. The new gecko is entirely computer rendered — and that costs significantly more than a few struggling actors on a makeshift set.
I can understand the argument that Geico wanted to avoid the commercials becoming stale, but I think the campaign was far from reaching that stage. There were plenty of more creative and funny scenarios a good writer could have come up with.
The way I see it, a company went from a successful campaign that’s all over pop culture to a new one that’s far less creative, less memorable, and more expensive. Change isn’t necessarily a good thing. Change has to have strong backing reasons and strong execution to be effective. If you have a good thing going, why change it? Stick to it until it starts to show more signs of leaking water before trying to move in a new direction. Businesses too often make changes for the sake of making changes — which often moves them further from success than they were previously.
Mon March 6th, 2006 10:07 am
Filed under Advertising & Marketing, Web
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I agree on this one. I miss the Taco Bell chihuahua. I can’t remember a single decent Taco Bell commercial since then.
I know that often it’s a matter of changing management/new ad agencies, where people making the ad campaigns get bored, but that’s a lame excuse.
I realize that the gist of your blog here is about why change the ad campaign instead of why is the new one not good, but should I remind you of your reaction to the Budweiser commercial…
“If anyone claims I went “awwwwwww!” with all the girls in the room (both of them) at the Budweiser Clydsdale commercial, they are lying. Or maybe stretching the truth. OK FINE! I liked the commercial. Sue me.”
Eric: Snap! Busted. You’re right, I probably wouldn’t mind as much if the commercial that replaced the previous one were good, in my opinion. Way to pay attention to what I say and throw it back at me
But I still say there are a lot of cases where companies should leave well enough alone.
Rob: I can’t remember a Taco Bell commercial at all since then. But I know I’ve seen them. They just don’t stick out in my head at all.